sábado, 11 de dezembro de 2010

JUSTICE FOR ASSANGE

UPDATES

PROTEST! SATURDAY 11 DECEMBER 2010 INLONDON! A DEMO HAS BEEN ORGANISED IN SUPPORT OF JULIAN ASSANGE & WIKILEAKS 11:00GMT Meet at Cumberland Gate, Marble Arch, Hyde Park For further info please see here:http://www.facebook.com/event.php?e...

Help us Defend Julian Assange!

Julian Assange, the founder ofWikiLeaks, is expected to appear in a UK court today after his lawyers said he would meet police to discuss a European arrest warrant from Sweden relating to alleged sexual assaults.

Jennifer Robinson, a solicitor with Finers Stephens Innocent, which represents the Australian freedom of information campaigner, told the Guardian: "We have a received an arrest warrant (related to claims in Sweden). We are negotiating a meeting with police."

Another lawyer representing Assange, Mark Stephens, added: "He has not been charged with anything. We are in the process of making arrangements to meet the police by consent, in order to facilitate the taking of that question and answer that is needed. It’s about time we got to the end of the day and we got some truth, justice and rule of law." [...]

LONDON— In the latest twist in the drama swirling around theWikiLeaksanti-secrecy group, British police officials said on Tuesday they had arrested Julian Assange, its beleaguered founder, on a warrant issued in Sweden in connection with alleged sex offenses.

Mr. Assange, a 39-year-old Australian, was arrested by officers from Scotland Yard’s extradition unit when he went to a central London police station by prior agreement with the authorities, the police said. A court hearing was expected later.

In a statement, the police said: “Officers from the Metropolitan Police extradition unit have this morning arrested Julian Assange on behalf of the Swedish authorities on suspicion of rape.”

Mr. Assange denies the charges of sexual misconduct said to have been committed while he was in Sweden in August. It was not immediately clear if Mr. Assange would resist extradition to Sweden for questioning by prosecutors there. [...]

Assange was arrested at a London police station at 9:30 a.m. and will appear at the City of Westminster Magistrate’s Court at 2 p.m., police said.

Swedish authorities had issued the warrant for Assange so they can talk to him about sex-crime allegations unrelated to WikiLeaks’ recent disclosure of secret U.S. documents.

At court, Assange will be able to respond to the arrest warrant, and the court will then have roughly 21 days to decide whether to extradite him, said Mark Ellis, executive director of the International Bar Association.

Even though the Swedish warrant is a European arrest warrant designed for easy transfer of suspects among European states, Assange may still choose to fight it — something his London lawyer has promised to do, according to the Press Association.

If the court does decide to allow his extradition, Assange will be allowed to appeal that decision, too, elongating the legal process, Ellis said.

Assange, a 39-year-old Australian, has said he has long feared retribution for his website’s disclosures and has called the rape allegations against him a smear campaign.[....]